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reetings from Australia.
Welcome to this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations, birthdays and events.
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Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after have a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty ... Your loving friend, E.W. [Edward Winslow] Plymouth in New England this 11th of December, 1621 Mourt's Relation, pub. 1622; EW Winslow writes of what many believe to be the first American Thanksgiving, which apparently occurred prior to December 11, 1621 (use our Search to see other dates for the first Thanksgiving, as the origins are disputed) Source |
A late-Medieval
representation of a comet and its portents |
And wars have that respect for his repose
As winds for halcyons when they breed at sea.
English poet Dryden, Stanzas on Oliver Cromwell, xxxvi
That the materially poor can ever be spiritual is out-and-out absurd.
Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), Indian cult leader, born on
December 11, 1931
Let this truth go as deep in you as possible: that life is already here, arrived. You are standing on the goal. Don't ask about the path.
Osho
Knowledge is not information, it's transformation.
Osho
A little foolishness, enough to enjoy life, and a little wisdom to avoid the errors, that will do.
Osho
Only people who carry the opinions of others need the support of others.
Osho
The mind can be used and can be put aside. It is an instrument, a very beautiful instrument; no need to be so obsessed with it.
Osho
You can't go on eating Italian food forever. Once in a while you want to try a Chinese
restaurant. Marriage is a lifelong bondage.
Osho
He is at once the
truly clever person and the stupid person's idea of the clever person.
Elizabeth Bowen,
writing in the Spectator, commenting on English author Aldous
Huxley (Island; Brave New World), on December 11, 1936
December 11 is the 345th day
of the year in the Gregorian calendar (346th
in leap years), with 20
days remaining.
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Septimontium, the Feast of the
Seven
Hills of Rome
Septimontium
celebrates the
incorporation of the seventh hill, the Colline, as part of the city of
Rome, and according to Varro,
it is also the name of the city before it was called Rome. Chariot races were held this day and the rex sacrorum (sacred
king) would do a round of the graves of the argei
(heroes that according to the legend took possession of some hills of future Rome from the Siculi and Liguri;
see also May 9
and 14) on some hills,
and offer sacrifice to the gods of an animal untamed by the yoke.
Celebrations for Septimontium (literally 'of the seven hills'), on December 11, were in the past considered related to the foundation of Rome. However, as April 21 is the only information for foundation upon which all the legends agree, it has been recently argued that Septimontium was likely to have actually celebrated the first federations among Roman hills: a similar federation was, in fact, celebrated by Latins at Cave (a village southeast of Rome) or at Monte Cavo (in Castelli). Smith suggests that this celebration took place later in this month; Platner seems to accord with the December 11 date often given, but writes "the whole subject of the Septimontium is complicated and quite obscure".
The Seven Hills
The Seven Hills of Rome east of the Tiber form the heart of Rome. They figure prominently into Roman mythology, religion, and politics; the original city was held by tradition to have been founded by Romulus on the Palatine Hill (Collis Palatinus). The other six of the Seven Hills of Rome are the Aventine Hill (Collis Aventinus), the Capitoline Hill (Collis Capitolinus), the Quirinal Hill (Collis Quirinalis), the Viminal Hill (Collis Viminalis), the Esquiline Hill (Collis Esquilinus), and the Caelian Hill (Caelius Mons; Collis Caelius). The now-famous Vatican Hill (Collis Vaticanus) is west of the Tiber and is not one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
"There are different versions, but it seems probable that the festival was celebrated on the three rises of the Palatine (Germalus or Cermalus, Palatium and Velia), on the three ones of the Exquilinus (Fagutal, Oppius, cispius) and on the Caelius.
"The Septimontium was originally a festival of the people who lived in those places, and this should prove that it dated back to an intermediate period, between the epoch in which only the Palatine was inhabitated [sic], and later times in which people started to occupy other hills. King Servius Tullius, who made a new constitution for the city, extended the participation to the Septimontium to the Sabine inhabitants of the Quirinalis, but the feast remained a memory of the 'old' palatinal Rome, as distinguished from its Sabine part.
"In imperial times the original meaning of the festival was lost and it became a celebration of the whole city. Then, (G. Vaccai – Le Feste di Roma Antica) somebody at the time of the emperors, when the city had grown bigger, started to wonder which were the seven hills, therefore they were identified with the seven hills that we know today." Source
List of cities claimed to be built on seven hills Roman festivals and notable days in the Book of Days Deities in the Book of Days
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 Scaling
day (Fête de
l'Escalade),
Geneva, SwitzerlandThis festival honours the night of December 11, 1602, when the citizens routed the Savoyards, who were scaling the walls of Geneva. Shops sell chocolate bonbons representing the soup pots the women used on that night to throw hot water on the invaders. Tonight they will be enjoying masquerades and parties. Presumably the people of Savoy will not. The term escalade means 'scaling' and refers to the Savoyards' use of ladders to storm the city's walls. A woman of Geneva named Mère Royaume (Mother Royaume), a mother of 14, was the first to notice the attack and from the heights poured a hot cauldron of soup on the head of a Savoy mercenary. The attack was successfully repelled, over 200 of the enemy being slain, while only 17 Genevese perished. Filled with joy at their rescue from this attack, the citizens crowded to their cathedral, where the theologian Theodore Beza (1519 - 1605), leader of the theocracy, then 83 years of age, got them to sing the 124th Psalm which has ever since been sung on the anniversary of this great delivery from disaster. The Escalade festival takes place
from Friday through Sunday on the weekend closest to December 11,
the day of the Savoyards' ill-fated invasion. Near the cathedral of
St Pierre is the arsenal which now houses the historical museum, in
which are preserved many relics of the Escalade, including the
famous ladders. From Wikipedia: Celebrations include a large marmite (cauldron) made of chocolate filled with marzipan vegetables and candies wrapped in the Geneva colours of red and gold. It's customary for the eldest and youngest in the room to smash the marmite, while reciting, "Ainsi périssent les ennemis de la République!" ("Thus perish the enemies of the Republic"). Other traditions include mulled wine, a large serving of soup, and children in Halloween-like costumes singing Escalade songs for money. It is also common for children to prepare vegetable soup in school, which is served to parents and families that night. There is also a parade on Sunday evening. The names of the eighteen who died – Jacques Billon finally died of his wounds a year later – are called out, one after another. Since 1978 there has been another element to the celebration of the Escalade, with a road running event being held the weekend preceding the night of the 11th. The run traditionally starts in the Parc des Bastions and goes through the Old City of Geneva, before finishing near the start again. It is one of the most significant annual events in Geneva, and is one of the most prestigious sporting events in Switzerland. "In the depths of dark mid-winter, visitors can rest assured that warmth is not neglected: a bonfire is erected on the Cour Saint-Pierre outside the cathedral, and the famous soup of Mere Royaume (famous for stalling invaders by being dropped over them), along with mulled wine, is available to all visitors. In true Swiss style, the soup pot, or 'Marmite' [sic], is recreated at home out of chocolate and stuffed with marzipan vegetables before being ritually smashed." Source L'Escalade at YouTube Know of a better Escalade video on YouTube? Drop me a line.
Escalade photos at flickr
More
More (in French)
December Moon Festival, Inuit
Jashan-e Sadeh,
Zoroastrian religion
Bruma, goddess of winter, ancient Rome Festival of the Agonalia, ancient Rome
Sol Indiges, ancient Rome
(sun god) Egyptian day (dies egypticus, dies ægypticus or dies mala), unlucky day in Medieval Europe. ("But, notwithstanding, I will trust the Lord" was the associated saying.) Advent (Nov 30 - Dec 25), season of the coming of Jesus Christ Feast
day of St
Damasus I, pope and confessor (Pope, born in Rome, c. 304, died 384. Encouraged the biblical work of his secretary, St Jerome.) Feast day of St Arthur Bell Feast day of St Barsabas Feast day of St Cian Feast day of St Daniel the
Stylite (409 - 493) Feast day of St Fuscian Feast day of St Gentian Feast day of St Hugolinus
Magalotti Feast day of St María Maravillas
de Jesús Feast day of St Trason Feast day of St Victoricus Malagan Festival, Papua New Guinea Hari Kugo; Daitosai, or Good-Luck Market, Omiya, Japan (Nov 30 - Dec 11) Iyomante Matsuri, Kutcharo, Japan (Dec 1 - 15) UNICEF's Birthday (1946) Second Wednesday in December, Thorn Cutting Ceremony, Glastonbury, Somerset, England A note about the dating of items in Wilson's Almanac
Indiana
Day, Indiana, USA Republic Day, Burkina Faso (1958, Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French Community)
1707 Charles Wesley (d. March 29, 1788), English hymnist, leader of the Methodist movement, kid brother of John Wesley (1703 - '91). Charles wrote the words of several thousand hymns, many of which are still popular, such as 'Hark, The Herald Angels Sing' and 'Love Divine, All Loves Excelling'. 1725 George Mason (d. 1792), American politician, 'Father of the Bill of Rights' 1781 Sir David Brewster (d. 1868) , Scottish physicist and inventor of the kaleidoscope1792 Josef Mohr (d. December 4, 1848), Austrian priest who composed the lyrics to 'Silent Night' ('Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!'), first performed on December 24, 1818. The melody was composed by Franz Gruber (1787 - 1863). 1801 Christian
Dietrich Grabbe 1803 Hector Berlioz 1810 Alfred de Musset (d. 1857), French romantic poet whom Heinrich Heine described as "a young man with a promising past" 1843 Robert Koch1863 Annie Jump
Cannon 1873 Josip Plemelj
Born in Breslau,
Germany, on this day in 1882, Max
Born went on to win the Nobel Prize in physics, jointly with
Walter Bothe, in 1954. His great
contribution to science was in the field of quantum mechanics,
furthering our understanding of the behaviour of subatomic
particles. He also had some brilliant students, including Enrico
Fermi and Werner Heisenberg – both of whom became Nobel Laureates
before their teacher – and J Robert Oppenheimer, the
'father of
the A-Bomb'. Born was the first to use the term 'quantum mechanics', in 1924. As a Jew, he was persecuted by the Nazis and forced out of his professorship at the University of Gottingen, Germany, in 1933. He fled to the UK and returned to his native country after the war. On July 15, 1955, Max Born signed, along with 15 other Nobel laureates, a resolution condemning the development of nuclear weapons. He died in Gottingen, Germany. His granddaughter is Australian pop singer and actress, Olivia Newton-John (movie: Grease). 1882 Fiorello LaGuardia (d. 1947), mayor of New York City 1882 Subramanya Bharathy (d. 1921), Tamil Indian poet 1883 Victor McLaglen (d. 1959), actor 1890 Mark Tobey (d. 1976), painter 1905 Gilbert Roland (d. 1994), Mexican-born American actor 1906 Birago Diop, Senegalese poet, veterinarian and diplomat and recorder of traditional folktales and legends of the Wolof people. He was born at Ouakam, French West Africa (now Senegal) and was active in the Negritude movement. Books include Tales of Amadou Koumba (1947) and Tales and Commentaries (1963). 1911 Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian novelist, 1988 Nobel laureate1912 Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer (Doctor Zhivago; Blowup; Zabriskie Point) 1913 Jean Marais (d. 1998), actor 1918 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian author, 1970 Nobel laureate (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; The Gulag Archipelago); born at Kislovodsk in the Caucasus Mountains 1919 Marie Windsor (d. 2000), actress1920 Big Mama Thornton (d. 1984), singer 1925 Paul Greengard, scientist, 2001 Nobel laureate 1930 Jean-Louis Trintignant, actor 1931 Osho® (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; d. January 19, 1990), controversial Indian guru, many of whose followers believe he was poisoned by US government agents while imprisoned. His movement was, for a time, commandeered by his personal secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, from whom he disassociated himself, amid claims that she had been involved in massive fraud against Rajneesh's organization, as well as a bioterrorism conspiracy. 1931 Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican singer, dancer, actress. In 1977, she became the ninth performer to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, in West Side Story; a Tony for Best Featured Actress, in The Ritz ; a Grammy (The Electric Company); and an Emmy, 1977 (Muppet Show) and 1978 (The Rockford Files).1935 Pranab Mukherjee, Indian politician 1936 Taku Yamasaki, Japanese politician 1939 Tom Hayden, American social and political activist and politician, most famous for his involvement in the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. Hayden also played a key role in the protests and violence surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. There he was arrested as part of the "Chicago Seven", with other protesters including Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, and charged with conspiracy and inciting riots. Hayden later served in the California State Assembly (1982 - 1992) and the State Senate (1992 - 2000). Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list 1943 John Kerry, American politician 1944 Booker T Jones, American musician 1944 Brenda Lee, American singer 1950 Christina Onassis (d. 1988), ship owner 1954 Jermaine Jackson, musician 1958 Nikki
Sixx, musician Phew!!
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